


Another Level

by KrysKrossZee



Series: Quinzee's Soulmate Fics [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, F/M, POV George Weasley, POV Male Character, POV Third Person, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:13:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25163713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrysKrossZee/pseuds/KrysKrossZee
Summary: When Fred died, George lost his soulmate, but gained a timer on his wrist telling him that in two years he would meet his next soulmate.
Relationships: Pansy Parkinson/George Weasley
Series: Quinzee's Soulmate Fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1822942
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17
Collections: Flighty Temptress





	Another Level

**Author's Note:**

> Another fest I didn't need but wanted so badly to join... Wizarding Writer's Archive is a wee group that's just starting up. This was their first fest and the prompt was “Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.”
> 
> I decided to make this the second fic in my soulmate series as well and used the prompt "A timer for when they shall first meet". I have a list of 118 of these prompts from the ever-lovely Ariel so there will be /plenty/ more to come!
> 
> Thank you to TheUltimateUndesirable for betaing for me and for giving me the ship to write in the first place!

George was done. So completely done. He didn’t want to be obsessing over this, yet here he was. Hoping that his skin would stop itching at some point and that he would be able to focus on something else. Anything else. The numbers on his wrist had appeared when Fred had died, but of course back then they had been the least of his worries. It hadn’t been a great time to even think about the fact that there was someone out there that may have been his soulmate. Let alone to even consider the fact that Fred had been his soulmate and the only reason he now had a soulmate timer was because he needed a new one.

He liked to believe that he hadn’t needed a soulmate to make him whole and that was why he had never had a soulmate timer before. As a child, Fred had had one, and the two of them had watched it count down until the very moment Angelina Johnson had walked into their lives.  
Ginny had one too. When she was little she had proudly shown it off to anyone and everyone who was brave enough to walk into the Burrow. As an adult though she had kept it covered at all times. George had a feeling that it was because the timer was still counting down even though she had committed herself to a relationship with Harry.

As for his other siblings, he couldn’t be sure. It wasn’t really something that people spoke about all that often. Well, it wasn’t something that men spoke about, and as such, he hadn’t spoken about his own timer with anyone else. For the first year or so, it didn't matter anyway. The day count was well over 600, not to mention the fact that it was the last thing on his mind. Without Fred, he’d been utterly and completely lost, and if he was being totally honest he’d been in such a dark place that he hadn’t wanted to continue living.

It had been on one particularly dark day that he had first properly looked at the time and how it just kept counting down the seconds. He’d stood there, staring at it for a long time and it had actually helped to ground him. Ground him to be able to just watch the numbers count backwards.

He didn't know what it was about it that he had found so reassuring at the time, but the more that he thought about it, the more he realised that it was probably to do with the fact that it was a sign that he was as alone in the world as he felt. The problem was that now that he was aware of the numbers, they just didn't seem to be counting down fast enough for his liking. He was done waiting. He was done feeling like this. Feeling like he was broken and incomplete. He didn't want to be one of those people that needed someone else to be whole, but he didn't seem to have a choice in that matter.

Today it seemed extra poignant, the timer even felt like it was burning his skin, reminding him that it was there. He was sure that it had a lot to do with the fact that today marked two years without Fred - and therefore only six hours until he met his supposed soulmate. The longest six hours of his life.

It was, of course, one of his least favourite days of the year anyway. On the same level with his birthday and Christmas. These big celebrations never got any easier. Everyone else was celebrating the end of the war today, but he just couldn't join them. Instead he preferred to take himself to a remote place where no-one would even think to look for him.

His mother had been furious with him last year for taking off without saying a word, but under the circumstances she had been unable to reprimand him for his disappearance. Somehow George couldn't see that being the case this year especially when he hadn't offered up any sort of explanation as to where he'd gone. He hoped that on some level his mother would understand why he needed time and space away from everyone else.

His space - or well, spot was probably a better term for it - was nowhere special. He'd found an abandoned farm house not far from the Burrow, yet still far enough away that no-one would think to look for him there. Last year he'd spent the day talking to Fred. It sounded ridiculous, and he knew that, but it had brought him a sense of peace. He hadn't had much to tell his twin. Not when it felt as though he had pretty much put his entire life on hold while he had tried to come to terms with Fred's passing, but this year was different. This year he wanted to talk about the timer on his arm; the fact that they were about to become uncles; how in a surprising turn of events Ron had been the sibling to step up and help him with the shop. There was so much to tell him that he thought he might burst.

His talk with his twin wasn't enough to distract himself from the timer on his wrist however, or the idea that his supposed soulmate was probably going to find him in the back of beyond because he had no intention of going home or even back to civilization any time soon. He tried to push this out of his mind as he let himself into the dusty old farm house and sat himself down in front of an old mirror in a bedroom. The mirror was grimey enough that his reflection didn't look exactly like himself.

* * *

George lost track of how long he had sat there when he heard the front door of the property bang open. Though if he'd looked at his wrist then he would have seen that it had been five hours fifty-nine minutes and thirty seconds. He had just managed to stumble to his feet when the door to the room he was in flew open.

In the doorway there stood a rather angry dark-haired girl who he felt like he should recognise, but couldn't put a name to.

"Who the fuck are you?" The girl asked, her hands on her hips and steam practically coming out of her ears.

All thoughts of how she was his soulmate had been pushed out of George's mind as he scrambled to find an acceptable answer.

"Uh. Hi. I'm George - George Weasley." He doubted from the scowl he received that that answer was actually acceptable. He supposed that the Weasley name was quite well known at this point, if she was in fact a witch which he was hoping she was. He'd never heard of a muggle having a soulmate anyway, but that wasn't to say that such a thing didn't exist.

"Next question - what are you doing here?" The girl asked, her jaw set in a way that made her look a lot meaner than her eyes told him she was. They weren't getting off to a great start that was for sure.

"I didn't think anyone would mind." He said quietly, not sure that he would be able to explain what he had been doing even if he had wanted to. The girl seemed far too angry to try and reason with at any rate.

"So you have a habit of breaking into people's houses?" She asked slowly, her eyebrow raised.  
"Uh. No. Not a habit, I just…" George trailed off, his eyes fixed on hers. They were a beautiful pale grey, almost like a silver, that he didn't think he'd ever seen before. They drew him in and made him forget the world around him. He didn't think that he felt any different about the world now that he'd met his supposed soulmate, but he certainly did think that this girl was something special.

"Just what…?" The girl's expression had softened somewhat as if she'd taken in the complete lack of anything in the room and how there was only one little area in front of the mirror that was clear of dust.

"I can't explain." George admitted quietly as he glanced at the mirror before he looked back at the girl again. "At least not yet."

"Yet?" She repeated as she leaned against the doorframe, one hand on her hip now as she quite obviously looked him up and down.

"Uh. Yeah." George nodded slightly. He was now all kinds of nervous. He'd never actually figured out what he would say to his soulmate when he came face to face with her and now here he was almost totally clueless. He swallowed thickly as he looked down for a moment before he found that he was compelled to meet her gaze again. "I… What's your name?"

"Pansy." She told him, her head tilted slightly as if she was amused that he didn't already know who she was. George had to admit it did seem strange to him considering it was starting to feel as if he had known her all his life in a way that he definitely wouldn't be able to explain to anyone.

There was a pregnant pause between them. One that hung in the air and made George's insides squirm, but not in an unpleasant way. He wanted to speak, to ask her more questions, but he found that the words just wouldn't come.

It was Pansy who broke the silence in the end. "I take it you had a timer as well?" She asked as she took a step into the room.

Her eyes flickered to his wrist so he found himself rolling the sleeve up and looking his skin over. The timer was gone now, and his skin was no longer itching where the timer had been.  
"Yeah, I did. It's - uh - it's gone now so I guess that means…" He trailed off as he swallowed thickly.

"That I'm stuck with a Weasley for the rest of my life." Pansy let out a laugh, the sort that lit up her entire face and made George smile despite her words that should have made him annoyed.

"Hey. That's not necessarily a bad thing, you know." He pointed out with a small smile as he looked up into those silver orbs of hers again.

"You clearly don't know who I am. I'm a Parkinson, as in a Slytherin. Trust me, for me it's bad." Her words said one thing but the small smile on her lips said another. "You are a handsome one though, huh?" She hummed as she walked around him.

George stood stock still, almost feeling as though he were an animal in a stall at the market. He didn't move. He didn't know how to until her hand brushed against his and it was as if a bolt of electricity passed through him.

"This place is a bit musty." She said softly as she walked towards the door, her eyes casting over her shoulder at him. "Come for a walk?"

George didn't have to think twice about the answer to that question as he moved to follow her out of the room. He realised that he was potentially just desperately seeking a reason to feel whole again. Sure, Pansy was his chance to feel less broken, if he was to believe the rumours of soulmate law, but he had also decided at some point since she had walked in that he didn't want to be alone with his thoughts again. He didn't want to be left alone with just a mirror to talk to again.

Once they were outside, he fell into step beside the girl and he was pleasantly surprised by the fact that they were able to fall into easy conversation. He didn't know where they were going but he didn't particularly care. He hadn't been able to talk to anyone like this in a long time and from what Pansy told him, she hadn't been able to either. Strangely it made him feel better to know that his apparent soulmate wasn't exactly his other half but someone who understood him on a level that had so far gone unnoticed.


End file.
